Caecus used his echolocation, and it was as if the person in front of him was illusory and non-physical.
It didn't catch anything, but he felt the air shifting from the person's movements.
"I would appreciate it if you gave me my book back," an aloof female voice rang out.
The blind boy noticed he still had the book in his grip, got flustered, and quickly put it back on the table.
"I… I'm sorry, I thought it was one of my books." Caecus looked in the direction of the voice. It was oddly soothing and calming to listen to.
"As I thought, you can't see, can you?" Suddenly, the girl's voice rang out from behind him.
Caecus immediately flinched and turned around.
"It was pretty clear that I was reading it, and normally you should be able to see me, but you can't seem to track where I am," she said, her voice coming from all directions. "Well, let me try something out."
The echolocation finally picked up something, a girl.
She seemed to be tall, around one hundred eighty centimeters, and physically well-built too.
'This is definitely someone from the main family of a really big corpus!'
As previously explained, the corpora fed their children the best food available and gave them elixirs, peptides, and many other things so that they would turn out physically superior to their peers.
Caecus noticed that almost everyone here was much taller than him, which was natural due to them receiving that treatment, while he had grown up with normal food.
But the really high-ranked ones, like the Nyx or Aeternus, didn't only breed for the best soul density, they also took physical aspects into consideration, like muscle genetics and others.
From her physique alone, Caecus was certain that she was from the main family of a leading corpus of Anima, like Aeternus.
Unlike what was usual for soul essence users and fighters in general, her hair was long, reaching her toned waist, and had a layered cut.
His echolocation picked her up to be in the spot where the book lay, sitting in front of it.
'So she was telling the truth… how did my echolocation not catch her?'
"Haha… anyways, I'm really sorry, I have to go now, Young Lady." With a clear tinge of panic, which he tried to suppress in his voice, Caecus quickly turned away and walked to the elevator.
'Please just let me get away as fast as possible.' Caecus prayed in his mind.
The girl didn't stop him, but he felt her gaze burn into his neck.
Then, in complete contrast to the aloof impression that the black-haired boy got of her, she chuckled a little.
It was so quiet, so faint that if he didn't have extremely sharp hearing, he wouldn't have noticed it.
Quickly, he pressed the button for the elevator, and when it arrived, he entered.
As soon as the doors closed, he let out a sigh of relief.
'She completely saw through me! And how the hell did she bypass my echolocation!?'
Thoughts flew through his head like crazy while Caecus swiftly entered his room and showered.
'Was she in our year? A rank three?'
Feeling the warm water run over his skin, Caecus tried to calm his thoughts.
'She seemed kind of mysterious. I doubt she would tell anyone that I'm blind. What would she gain from that?'
'It's fine for now, or at least I hope so.'
Changing into his sleeping garments, the teen did breathing exercises to calm himself and then went to sleep on the huge bed.
The mattress was extremely soft, and the pillows were fluffy.
'Goddamn, I feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud!'
Exhausted after everything that had happened that day, he fell asleep very quickly.
…
Caecus groggily propped himself up, got off the bed, did his usual stretching routine, and then showered.
'Today it's time for the first entrance exam.'
The first of the three exam days would be an overall measurement of his soul density, soul rank, and how well he controlled his soul essence.
After changing into his everyday clothes, Caecus checked his phone.
'Amelia said the exam schedule would be sent through their app.'
The school had an app that would later be used to choose classes, check schedules, and other things.
For now, Caecus just used it to check when it would be his turn to take the exams, since there was no way all ten thousand participants could take them at the same time.
'At eleven in the morning. Okay, I still have time to get ready!'
Looking at the time, his face shifted into a frown.
'It's 10:30 AM?! I slept for twelve hours?!'
'It's because of that cursed bed! How can a bed be this comfortable?!'
The fifteen-year-old rushed.
With as much haste as he could muster, he put on his shoes, infused his legs with soul essence, and started running toward the elevator.
Caecus continuously pressed the button until the elevator doors opened, then pressed 0, which symbolized the ground floor.
When the elevator doors opened, he sensed many different souls just lounging around and making friends.
Ignoring them all, he rushed toward the location shown on the academy map in the app.
He felt a few gazes following him, but he had more important things to do than worry about that.
The blind boy refused to use his soul essence to run faster so that his peers wouldn't easily gauge his strength.
So, relying purely on his stamina and physical ability, he ran as fast as possible.
The instant the doors of the building opened, he was greeted by the cold and refreshing morning air.
He sprinted past other entrance exam takers and many different boys and girls.
At one point, he bumped into someone.
"I'm so sorry!" he bowed twice and continued running, while the boy just stared at him in confusion.
After fifteen minutes of running, he reached a building, and his soul phone confirmed it was the correct one.
From the outside, it resembled a large hall.
Caecus opened the door and was greeted by a big waiting room, where around fifty students sat on chairs, waiting to be called for their entrance exams.
Checking his phone, he saw that it was 10:53 and let out a sigh of relief.
Gingerly wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he sat down and waited as well.
Many different names were called, and at one point a voice resounded.
"Elijah Willson."
'Wait, that's the boy who was arguing with the guard when I entered!'
And indeed, he felt a familiar soul stand up and walk toward the next room.
All of the exam takers stared at him strangely, since Willson was a very common name for mundane people and not one belonging to any corpus.
But Elijah ignored them all and left with the assistant.
At around 11:03, his name was called as well.
"Caecus Caelum. Please come up and follow me."
Following the assistant's command, he stood up and walked toward the next room.
The assistant was relatively short for someone from the corpora, at one hundred sixty-eight centimeters, but still taller than Caecus.
A hallway with many different rooms could be sensed when he stepped out of the waiting area.
They reached a door, and the assistant pushed it open.
The room was fairly large, around thirty square meters and three meters tall.
"Welcome, I'm Regina Veritas, or Mrs. Veritas for you. If you choose to attend law classes, I'll most likely be your teacher."
A female voice greeted him, and Caecus sensed a woman in her thirties who was a rank three soul essence user.
She had short hair and a below-average physique, with a height of one hundred seventy-five centimeters.
'Well, for a rank three, she seems pretty weak.'
'That's right. To be a theory teacher, you don't need to be a high-ranking soul essence user, you just need to excel in your field.'
The Veritas corpus was responsible for most judicial processes in Anima, providing lawyers, judges, and many other roles.
They weren't particularly powerful in terms of manpower, like the Caelum corpus, but they were deeply integrated into the judicial system and held significant political influence.
She nodded toward a seat next to an apparatus with a large opening, around forty centimeters in diameter.
Caecus sat down, and she nodded.
"Alright, please stick your arm into the machine, and when you do, infuse ten percent of your soul essence into it and assimilate," she explained.
He did exactly as told, inserting his arm into the machine. It closed around it until it was tight.
Infusing his arm with soul essence, he felt the apparatus hum, and when he assimilated, it let out a ding.
The machine loosened, and he removed his arm, rubbing it.
"Alright, that's it. Now we just need to test your soul essence control. What stage are you at right now?"
"I'm at the augmentation stage," Caecus replied.
"Take this and infuse it with your soul essence as fast as you can," Mrs. Veritas said.
She handed him what felt like a ball, which Caecus gripped tightly.
"On my command, the ball will vibrate. When you feel that, infuse it with your soul essence as quickly as possible."
Caecus nodded.
Three seconds later, the ball vibrated, and with his enhanced reaction speed, he immediately responded.
His soul essence rushed into the ball, and once it reached it, the device began beeping.
There was a monitor displaying results, which Caecus couldn't see.
But the professor's reaction said enough.
"Wow… that was very fast. Uhh…" she checked the monitor. "Zero point two seconds."
"That should be it for now. You'll receive your results along with the others."
Nodding, he stood up and left, the assistant following him.
"The exit is at the end of the hallway," she said, then walked off to guide another student.
'Well, that was anticlimactic. Actually, it's kind of relaxing. Tomorrow is the physical exam, and the third day is the written test.'
'I'll have the rest of the day free, so I might as well do something fun.'
When he reached the end of the hallway, he stepped outside, and a fresh wave of air greeted him.
'Haa, I love fresh air.'
Deciding to explore the academy, Caecus pulled out his phone and checked the map.
'They have a hot spring? I have to check that out!' His face lit up, then immediately stiffened.
'Eek. No. There will be a lot of other boys there… I don't want to look like some twink compared to them.'
Deciding against it, he considered other options.
'Either I go back to the library, or wait… I haven't eaten breakfast yet. There should be a cafeteria here.'
Checking the map, he found one about half a kilometer away.
'Alright, let's go there.'
Walking toward the cafeteria, Caecus noticed that friend groups had already formed.
Occasionally, heirs of major corpora could be seen, surrounded by people trying to gain their attention and form connections.
His thoughts drifted back to his sister.
'The last time I saw her, we were five… wow. That's a long time ago.'
His memories were hazy, mostly consisting of her scent and the feeling of her hugging him.
'Back then, we were actually close… until they separated us.'
'I kind of don't want to see her… she probably thinks I'm weak and disposable now, if she was raised by father… I mean, she wouldn't be wrong but…'
'No. Don't put yourself down. You've got this, Caecus. But still, it's better not to see her. It would be awkward.'
The blind boy nodded and made sure to avoid any heirs of major corpora so he wouldn't run into Aurelia.
Five minutes later, he arrived at a massive building similar to the exam hall, only much larger and with multiple floors.
The entrance consisted of two wide glass doors, both open.
Caecus stepped inside and immediately smelled a variety of delicious foods.
His stomach growled, and he followed a hallway until he reached another door.
Opening it, he was greeted by an enormous hall filled with a buffet of countless dishes.
Grabbing a tray with plates, cutlery, and a glass, he selected a variety of foods and filled them up before leaving the main hall.
There was a second floor where students could sit.
He climbed the stairs as groups of teens passed him, laughing and chatting.
'I really am a loner, huh? Well, I could ask Titus… no. Making friends is for after the tournament.'
He reached a second hall with around a thousand souls seated.
Finding an empty spot, he sat down and ate quietly.
Tomorrow, it would be time for the physical examinations.